Doctors have called for a 1% tax on cheap booze but Irish officials want the Government here to go even further.

The Irish, British and Ulster Societies of Gastroenterology met today in Belfast and issued the collective plea for their governments to take action on cut price alcohol.

But the Irish head of the group, Professor Aiden McCormick went further and called on the Government here to introduce a 1% levy on alcohol advertising and sponsorship expenses.

He said that any cash raised should be used to set up an Institute of Alcohol Studies which would spearhead research into reducing alcohol harm.

Prof McCormick said: “Currently there is no funding dedicated to improving treatment of serious alcohol-related diseases.

“We feel it appropriate that the industry which profits from alcohol consumption should fund research into harm reduction.”

Alcohol Action Ireland said that every seven hours, someone in Ireland dies from an alcohol-related illness and there are almost twice as many deaths due to alcohol as all other drugs combined.

Over 250,000 people in Ireland are estimated to be dependant on alcohol, which contributes enormously to conditions such as coronary heart disease, liver cirrhosis, strokes and cancers.

It costs the country a staggering €3.7 billion a year, while 25% of all A&E admissions, 33% of road accidents and 50% of suicides are booze-related in Ireland.

But today, the Alcohol Beverage Federation of Ireland (ABFI) hit back at the call claiming “there is no proven link between alcohol consumption and marketing and sponsorship”.

It said that alcohol consumption has fallen by over 19% since 2001 and is now fast approaching EU norms, while Irish taxes on booze are well above other EU countries.

ABFI Director Kathryn D’Arcy said: “Driving a culture change where it is no longer acceptable to drink to excess and misuse alcohol can only come about when there is a true partnership approach.

“Simply introducing another tax on an industry who employ over 60,000 people, pays over €2 billion in taxes and proudly exports over €1 billion worth of brands all over the world, in order to fund another quango will not achieve this.”

Responding to the ABFI on the Morning Ireland today, Prof McCormick said: “I think they may be right about a quango – but paying a small focused amount of money would actually achieve an enormous amount.

“We need something, some source of funding to improve treatment for patients that are coming in now.

“The only way to improve the treatment is to put money into research.

“The trouble about alcoholic liver disease is that it’s a major problem for the health service.

“When patients are admitted, they have approximately one in 10 chance of dying.

“There’s no funding for research into this problem, there’s nobody paying for it.

“We feel the alcohol industry should pony up some money and the advertising budget is a discretionary expenditure.”